Sitting on a Melbourne tram recently, I overheard an amusing conversation between two tram drivers. They'd been talking for a while about driving trams, how many years of tram driving experience they'd had, and how it wasn't like the good old days etc, when one of them said:

"I love driving trams. You know, this job would be perfect if it wasn't for the passengers".

When conducting as-is technology assessments to support the development of IT strategies, we frequently find spreadsheets out there in the business, supporting vital business functions but unsupported by IT.

So, when is it appropriate to use Excel and when does it present an unacceptable risk to the organisation? The easiest way to answer this question is to first explain the pros and cons of Excel.

Dave O'Reardon was recently invited to present to the Victorian chapter of the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF). Having led a major IT performance improvement program at an ASX Top 100 company, Dave's presentation, titled "The Biggest Bang for your ITIL Buck", focused on the program initiatives that delivered the most value to IT and the business.

 Click here to view the slides.